Common Name:
common
reed
Common Name Synonym:
phragmites
Scientific Name:
Phragmites australis
Family Name:
Poaceae (Graminae)
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Grass Family
Life Cycle
introduced perennial, reproducing by seed, stout rhizomes and sometimes stolons
Culms
upright, very tall, round, smooth, hollow, sometimes purplish, nodes smooth, fallen culms often root at nodes, forms large colonies
Leaves
blades lanceolate, gray-green, tapering to sharp point, flat, smooth above and below, wrinkle mid-blade, rough margins, scatted very short hairs; rolled in bud; auricles absent; ligule membranous, fringe with short hairs with much longer scattered hairs;
Seedheads
terminal panicle, large, dense and plume-like with tufts of white silky hairs, yellowish-brown to purple become light brown when mature and persisting though winter
